The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has announced that Prairie Star Cort Ross is among its weekly award winners. The senior distance runner from Casey, Ill. earned his first career Indoor Track Athlete of the Week Award.

Ross won the GVSU Bill Clinger Classic 3,000 meter run with a NCAA DII provisional time of 8:16:02. It is the top time by a GLVC athlete so far this season. The mark was No. 18 in NCAA DII as of Friday, and is now NCAA DII No. 32. Ross, no stranger to the UIS record book, now has the 3rd fastest in UIS program history.  

Ross quickly joined the lead pack with top Midwest Region runners and would eventually break away with several laps to go and win the race by three seconds.

In 2023, Cort Ross finished 2nd in the 5,000 meter run at the GLVC Indoor Track and Field Championships. In the year since, he became the GLVC Champion in cross country and was named a USTFCCCA All-American after finishing 18th at the NCAA DII Cross Country Championships.

The last Indoor Track Athlete of the Week Award for UIS men's track and field was earned by Noah McIntyre (2/22/23).